Had a great two week stay at the Blue Angel and spent today cleaning and stowing gear and going over some photos.
I lost two days to nortes the first week but was able to dive every other day I was there. I dove with both the house op at the Blue Angel and with our buddy Jorge (Cubano) on both a rented pelagic adventures boat and on his own boat the kike. The weather was highly variable and ranged from windy to hot to sticky to cool and beautiful to raining buckets. Ocean was super warm (too much) and I was reading temps from 82-88 depending on day and dive site.
We had LOTS of big swells around the southern cruise ship peir and one night after a night dive a storm blew in and we had to turn back for the marina because we were unable to dock at the Blue Angel safely. Once the wind shifted, the southern dive sites had great conditions and surface intervals were either on flat water close to shore or at the Paradise beach club pier.
There was a really bad coral bleaching event happening and most of the finger and lettuce corals on the reefs were totally white at least half way down their bodies. The local dive guides said that the polyps were still extended but the color was gone and if it continues the coral polyps might die off completely. They also said that if the temps drop back down to a more normal range during winter they are hoping for a comeback. Expansion on the island continues and it was often expressed to me that people worry if the island's infrastructure and it's beautiful reefs can support much more before it suffers a serious collapse.
Even with these challenges, we had some EPIC diving and enjoyed turtles, nurse shark, toadfish, stingrays, as well as clouds of blue chromis, snappers, jacks, and even a couple of eagle rays during my 29 dives. There were a group of 5 gray reef shark babies on Cedral and we saw some or all of them several times. I saw several larger yellowfin groupers for the first time in many years which made me happy that grouper was no longer on the menu at places in town. Our 4 night dives on Paradise and San Clemente were crazy good with tons of octopus, free walking crabs, more lobsters than you could count and even a couple of turtles and nurse sharks at night. Currents were mostly mild and visibility was outrageous especially during the 2nd week once the wind shifted to being out of the east. When there was current is was easy to drop behind a coral head, cut into a swim through or get low on the sand in a channel between breaks in the reef to drop out of the flow and slow down. All dives were 60 minutes or more and had several that were 70 mins+ (which was very nice of the dive masters who get paid the same if the dives are 45 mins and they would get home sooner!) Tips are always appreciated in a place where wages are generally low and we always try and make sure they know we don't take the incredible service for granted.
Divemasters and staff at the BA were awesome as always and after so many visits they are friends as much as people working for the hotel. The rooms at the hotel could use a little love and by now one would think that a $5 showerhead would be a no brainer. However, the hotel is still an awesome setup with a great dive op, bulk cold and hot bottled water with a pitcher and cup provided and water coolers on every floor and in the lobby and a solid breakfast included. The cost of the food has gone up at the resort which motivated me to find cheaper options off campus but fortunately there are two good choices across the street now. These include a ceviche place (even with their loud music late) and a wonderful little place owned by a lady named Laura who is serving lovely simple food from mexico city including good tacos and an outrageous plate of mole.
Food in town included Tacos Diaz, El Pique, Chilangos, Rolandis, and Ohana wich were all fabulous.
I lost two days to nortes the first week but was able to dive every other day I was there. I dove with both the house op at the Blue Angel and with our buddy Jorge (Cubano) on both a rented pelagic adventures boat and on his own boat the kike. The weather was highly variable and ranged from windy to hot to sticky to cool and beautiful to raining buckets. Ocean was super warm (too much) and I was reading temps from 82-88 depending on day and dive site.
We had LOTS of big swells around the southern cruise ship peir and one night after a night dive a storm blew in and we had to turn back for the marina because we were unable to dock at the Blue Angel safely. Once the wind shifted, the southern dive sites had great conditions and surface intervals were either on flat water close to shore or at the Paradise beach club pier.
There was a really bad coral bleaching event happening and most of the finger and lettuce corals on the reefs were totally white at least half way down their bodies. The local dive guides said that the polyps were still extended but the color was gone and if it continues the coral polyps might die off completely. They also said that if the temps drop back down to a more normal range during winter they are hoping for a comeback. Expansion on the island continues and it was often expressed to me that people worry if the island's infrastructure and it's beautiful reefs can support much more before it suffers a serious collapse.
Even with these challenges, we had some EPIC diving and enjoyed turtles, nurse shark, toadfish, stingrays, as well as clouds of blue chromis, snappers, jacks, and even a couple of eagle rays during my 29 dives. There were a group of 5 gray reef shark babies on Cedral and we saw some or all of them several times. I saw several larger yellowfin groupers for the first time in many years which made me happy that grouper was no longer on the menu at places in town. Our 4 night dives on Paradise and San Clemente were crazy good with tons of octopus, free walking crabs, more lobsters than you could count and even a couple of turtles and nurse sharks at night. Currents were mostly mild and visibility was outrageous especially during the 2nd week once the wind shifted to being out of the east. When there was current is was easy to drop behind a coral head, cut into a swim through or get low on the sand in a channel between breaks in the reef to drop out of the flow and slow down. All dives were 60 minutes or more and had several that were 70 mins+ (which was very nice of the dive masters who get paid the same if the dives are 45 mins and they would get home sooner!) Tips are always appreciated in a place where wages are generally low and we always try and make sure they know we don't take the incredible service for granted.
Divemasters and staff at the BA were awesome as always and after so many visits they are friends as much as people working for the hotel. The rooms at the hotel could use a little love and by now one would think that a $5 showerhead would be a no brainer. However, the hotel is still an awesome setup with a great dive op, bulk cold and hot bottled water with a pitcher and cup provided and water coolers on every floor and in the lobby and a solid breakfast included. The cost of the food has gone up at the resort which motivated me to find cheaper options off campus but fortunately there are two good choices across the street now. These include a ceviche place (even with their loud music late) and a wonderful little place owned by a lady named Laura who is serving lovely simple food from mexico city including good tacos and an outrageous plate of mole.
Food in town included Tacos Diaz, El Pique, Chilangos, Rolandis, and Ohana wich were all fabulous.
